


serious

by dottie_wan_kenobi



Series: Brutalia Bingo (2019-2020) [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, BAMF Talia al Ghul, F/M, Fluff, Handwaving, POV Talia al Ghul, Puppy Love, Timeline What Timeline, Truth Serum, they're both pretty young here, we don't care about background details here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-28 23:50:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21145283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dottie_wan_kenobi/pseuds/dottie_wan_kenobi
Summary: Once they’re all unconscious or at least moaning and writing in pain, she hurries to Bruce’s side, hands coming to his jaw, holding his head up. This close, she can see that his pupils are dilated, skin pale under his cowl.“Talia?” He murmurs, sinking forward as much as he can. “I knew you’d come.”“Of course I did,” she replies, mimicking his quiet tone. “Let me get you untied, darling.”“Hnnn.”He doesn’t protest her letting him go, and directs her to a knife he has in his utility belt, which the goons apparently didn’t have the wherewithal to confiscate. He pulls on his restraints, giving her more room to cut them, and once they’re off, he makes an uncharacteristic happy noise.“Iknewyou’d come,” he says again, standing unsteadily.Talia reaches out, grabbing hold of his arms. He leans in, kissing her soundly. It’s a nice kiss, but nothing like their usual intense, post-battle, I’ll-miss-you ones. It’s…chaste.“Bruce,” she says, allowing some urgency to show through her tone. He always responds to her urgency. “What did they drug you with?”





	serious

**Author's Note:**

> k it's 3:30 am and god only knows if this makes sense/has a million typos/whatever. i'll fix it in the <strike>morning</strike> afternoon. If anything is egregiously wrong let me know in the comments. 
> 
> thanks for reading!!

The building they’re keeping Bruce in is deceptively ramshackle, small and tucked deep in the woods, the nearest neighbors quite a ways off.

Talia parks half a mile away. Bruce’s motorcycles are much quieter than normal models, but that doesn’t mean they’re silent. She’s not willing to risk anything, though she’s sure Bruce could take care of himself if his captors heard her coming.

Well, she’s optimistic, anyway. Even on his bad days, he’s capable of great feats. It says something, then, that as far as she and Alfred have been able to ascertain, he hasn’t attempted to escape. His suit’s tracker has shown him staying in the same spot for an hour and a half now.

Needless to say, it’s concerning. Hence why she’s out here and not just letting him get out of the situation by himself.

As she makes her way through the trees, stepping lightly, Talia reminds herself of the enemy here.

According to Bruce’s files, there should be between six and fourteen goons inside. Five of them are science experiments, having shot themselves up some years ago with super steroids. They then dropped off the map until witnesses started placing them around Gotham a week and five days ago. Bruce suspects one of them, the sixth one, is the leader, while the rest are just more muscle for them. The suspected leader is a disgraced scientist who set fire to his lab and ended up killing three people—his colleague and both of their interns. All together, their crimes are numerous—squatting, aggravated assault, carjacking, stalking, kidnapping, breaking and entering, robbery, murder.

Sounds like a piece of cake, really.

She takes a few moments to case the house, determine the best point of entry. She can see people inside, a few burly men loudly discussing something she can’t quite make out.

It’s easy, pathetically so, to enter through a side window and take them out one by one. The first one goes down with a single hard punch to the jaw, his head bouncing on the floor. The next she meets with a kick to the balls, and the other two she takes down with a few well placed elbows. She examines her knuckles for a moment, letting the only one who hadn’t passed out struggle to his feet.

When she deigns to look at him, she can’t help but smirk at how he’s still clutching himself. She steps closer, resting her hand on his head and pushing it back. “Where is he.” It’s no question.

“Fuck you, bitch,” he spits.

“Hmm.” Digging her fingernails in, she pushes farther, his neck visibly straining. “Try again. _Where is he_.”

He holds out for a few seconds before glaring venomously at her. “Basement.”

“Yes, I assumed so.”

She ties him up good and tight, and heads for the stairs. The floor must be soundproofed, she thinks, tense. None of the goons had come upstairs when their friends dropped. Either they’re all waiting at the door for her, or they have no idea.

Just before she bursts her way in, she inhales, settles herself, and exhales. She's got this.

While she’s in Gotham, she reluctantly abides by Bruce’s wishes, which means her gun is full of rubber bullets instead of the regular ones. They still hurt like hell, though, and she takes solace in that once she catches sight of Bruce.

He’s slumped over in a chair, arms and legs ziptied close to the wood. Fleetingly, he looks up at the sound of gunfire, but doesn’t seem too interested.

Talia clenches her jaw and gets to work.

Once they’re all unconscious or at least moaning and writing in pain, she hurries to Bruce’s side, hands coming to his jaw, holding his head up. This close, she can see that his pupils are dilated, skin pale under his cowl.

“Talia?” He murmurs, sinking forward as much as he can. “I knew you’d come.”

“Of course I did,” she replies, mimicking his quiet tone. “Let me get you untied, darling.”

“Hnnn.”

He doesn’t protest her letting him go, and directs her to a knife he has in his utility belt, which the goons apparently didn’t have the wherewithal to confiscate. He pulls on his restraints, giving her more room to cut them, and once they’re off, he makes an uncharacteristic happy noise.

“I _knew_ you’d come,” he says again, standing unsteadily.

Talia reaches out, grabbing hold of his arms. He leans in, kissing her soundly. It’s a nice kiss, but nothing like their usual intense, post-battle, I’ll-miss-you ones. It’s…chaste. 

“Bruce,” she says, allowing some urgency to show through her tone. He always responds to her urgency. “What did they drug you with?”

“Truth serum.” He stumbles away, to a table she hadn’t noticed, tucked away as it is. He grabs a few vials and stows them away in his belt, mumbling about how he needs to build up more immunities. “I’m going to be fine, but until then, I believe the side effects are sluggishness and, well, no inhibition.”

Talia has always believed truth serum to be nothing more than a childish, fictional invention, and she’s aware Bruce has too. Unsure of what to think, she moves to the table herself, grabbing the last few vials. Perhaps she could find use of this, no matter what it truly is.

“It’s annoying,” Bruce sighs. “There are things I don’t want to say. That I don’t want you to know yet.”

“Then don’t say them,” she says. “You have a strong will, my love. You’ll be fine. Now come on, I parked half a mile out, and I’m sure it won’t be long before the police show up.”

“Alfred call them, huh?”

She reaches out, taking his hand. “Who else?”

The walk back is fine. He stumbles a few times, and while he doesn’t seem to really need her help, he doesn’t protest being tucked into her side. A few times, he makes comments about things—how he thinks deer are majestic animals, and how trees make him uncomfortable, since he can’t see clearly all the way to the top. When they hear police sirens in the distance, he blurts, “The Commissioner figured out who I am.”

She laughs a little, patting his stomach with the hand not currently holding his side. “If you know what clues to look for, it’s easy.”

“It was easy for you because you’re a genius,” he replies. “And because I can’t hide anything from you, truth serum or no.”

“Oh, if only that were true,” she teases.

“It is,” he counters, shaking his head.

Unsure what to say to that, she just gives him a look, one that says she doesn’t believe it for a second. He gazes back, steps slowing as his eyes sweep over her face.

“I really love you, you know,” he says, quiet and soft. “You’re an enigma, Talia. And you know how I feel about mysteries.”

She does know. In fact, she knows better than most. It makes her heart pound to hear it, to hear the curiosity and amusement and…and love in his words.

Dammit, doesn’t he understand they can’t take this further? Can’t let it get so serious? Can’t he tell that she’s been forcing her own feelings down for months now?

How long exactly, she wonders, has he been holding onto this?

She smiles, more playful than she really feels. It has to be playful. This has to be a joke, a tease. Not serious.

Hands on his chest, she imagines she can feel his heart beating under all his armor. She imagines it’s pounding in sync with her own. “Unfortunately, darling, I’m not so easily cracked.”


End file.
